Lowell Advances $300 Million Sewer and Water Upgrade

The city's infrastructure program, funded by federal, state and municipal sources, targets aging combined sewer lines and drinking-water safeguards.

Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Utilities

Lowell Advances $300 Million Sewer and Water Upgrade

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Lowell, Massachusetts is advancing a roughly $300 million program to upgrade its sewer and water infrastructure, much of it aging combined sewer pipes more than a century old. Test-pit investigations are underway in the Lower Highlands neighborhood to prepare for new drainage pipelines.

Why it matters

Lowell's combined sewers carry roof and street runoff along with household wastewater, so intense, prolonged rain can overwhelm the system. Because roughly 700,000 people in Lowell and nearby communities draw drinking water from the Merrimack River, the upgrades bear on regional water quality as well as local drainage.

Combined sewer lines make up 60% of Lowell's sewer pipes, and the system discharges about 430 million gallons of sewage and stormwater annually through nine EPA-permitted outfalls. The source does not specify how the $300 million total is split across projects or when each phase will be funded.

The players

Lowell City Government

The municipal government of Lowell, Massachusetts, is directing the city's sewer and water infrastructure program.

Aqua Line Utility

Aqua Line Utility is carrying out the test-pit investigations that assess underground materials and existing utilities ahead of new drainage pipelines.

The details

The separated system will send sewage to the treatment plant while routing rainwater directly into local waterways, a change Aqua Line Utility is preparing for with test pits that assess underground materials and locate existing utilities. Work is spread across several sites, including Centralville, Belvidere and Duck Island, with the Lowell Regional Wastewater Utility's treatment operations involved.

Mid-November 2026: Lower Highlands test-pit investigations are expected to end.
Through 2032: Staggered completion dates extend across the sewer and water projects.

Infrastructure Context

Lowell's nine EPA-permitted combined sewer outfalls place the city within the federal combined sewer overflow regime under the Clean Water Act, which has pushed older Northeastern cities toward separating stormwater from sewage. The Centralville sewer-separation project is the city's most direct response to that pressure.

Residents in the Lower Highlands may see test-pit work as crews assess underground conditions ahead of new drainage pipelines through mid-November. Households across Lowell and the surrounding communities that draw from the Merrimack River stand to benefit from reduced sewer overflow over the coming years.

The takeaway

Lowell's sewer work shows how aging combined infrastructure can be rebuilt in stages, with the largest phases stretching to 2032. Its progress will be tracked against the rainfall and river-quality concerns that drove the program.